Come on a Story Safarai with Joyce Hostetter! If you've followed my blog for awhile, then you are not new to my friend and mentor, Joyce Hostetter. I have learned so much from Joyce over the twenty years that I've known her, that I'm happy she will be leading the next Write2Ignite virtual Master Class.… Continue reading Unlock Your Writing Potential with Joyce Hostetter
Many of you know that ever since the Lord brought Joyce Hostetter and I together four years ago at Mid-South Reading and Writing Institute, we've collaborated together in several different ways. We've co-taught at NWRESA and NCAIS; we've co-presented "Is there a Children's Book in You?" three times at NCCAT and are about to teach there once again as well… Continue reading Meet my First Guest Blogger: Joyce Hostetter
What could be a more engaging way to reinforce science and social studies facts (and to simultaneously stretch under-used imaginations) then to teach students how to write short stories that incorporate either scientific, historic, or cultural data into fiction? Yesterday at NWRESA, I taught a group of North Carolina teachers how to create and use… Continue reading Wikis & Writing Across the Curriculum
At NWRESA in Wilkesboro, NC this week, I taught a talented group of teachers how to create blogs, wikis, & podcasts to use in their classrooms. Here are some of their lessons which they agreed to share with you as long as you know these are all "works in progress":April Robinson a fourth grade math… Continue reading Lessons from NWRESA
In conjunction with my workshop at NWRESA next week on Using Technology for 21st Century Writing, I put together a handout for the teachers listing helpful websites. There is a serious push throughout the country for schools to incorporate technology into classrooms. As Karl Fisch commented on his poplar website for teachers, The Fischbowl, "If… Continue reading Using Technology for 21st-Century Writing
Here is my technical support as well as my young adult novel consultant, Anna Sattler.
That was one of the last things I said to fellow NC author, Joyce Hostetter, on Wednesday afternoon after a day of planning our upcoming workshop at NCCAT. Joyce got into the theme of an archeological dig as she brainstormed off my reproducible "Mining Your Lives" from Teaching the Story. Thinking about how adult authors… Continue reading “I’ll show you my artifacts if you show me yours!”
Last month when I was a presenter at NWRESA, I used this AVerVersion Document camera for the first time. After completing their "assignments" teachers used the camera to project their writing unto a screen so that everyone could comment on it. WOW! I found it to be a great tool for allowing everyone to give… Continue reading Technology Toys & Tools
Lured by my title, twenty-seven elementary and middle school teachers joined me yesterday at NWRESA in Wilkesboro, NC. With the common goal of improving students' test scores (the specter which haunts many language arts teachers), we looked at how students can improve their essays by adding voice, using "show don't tell writing", and utilizing effective… Continue reading Put Pizzazz into your Students’ Writing: Using Fiction Techniques to Write Grab-You-by-the-Collar Expository Essays